South America is conceived of as a fully integrated geo-economic space. This is why it is necessary to minimize domestic barriers to trade and bottlenecks in infrastructure and in the regulation and operation systems that support production activities at the regional level. While trade opening facilitates the identification of production sectors that are highly competitive at the global level, viewing South America as a single economy makes it possible to retain and distribute more benefits from trade in the region and to protect the regional economy from global market fluctuations.

In line with the above-mentioned geo-economic conception of the region, South America is organized around multinational geographic areas that concentrate current and potential trade flows, and in which a minimum common standard of service quality for transport, energy, and communications infrastructure is pursued in order to support production chains and activities with economies of scale, regardless of whether they are for consumption in the region or for exportation. The Integration and Development Hubs are a territorial reference for the sustainable development of the region, which will facilitate access to areas with a high production potential that are currently isolated or underutilized due to the deficient provision of basic transport, energy, or communication services.

Economic integration in South America must aim at a higher-quality development which can only be achieved by taking into account the four elements of sustainability: (i) economic sustainability, achieved through the productive processes’ efficiency and competitiveness; (ii) social sustainability, granted by the visible impact of economic growth on the quality of life of the population at large; (iii) environmental sustainability, which entails the rational use of natural resources and the conservation of the ecological heritage for future generations; and (iv) political-institutional sustainability, which consists of creating conditions so that society’s different public and private agents can and will be willing to contribute to development and integration.

Regional development and integration should not simply produce more of what has been traditionally made but instead should be a process of continuous improvement of the quality and productivity of goods and services (through innovation and knowledge generation) so that the economy generates more and more wealth for society. As part of the regional integration process, our economies should be retargeted so as to set up productive chains in highly competitive sectors at the global level, making good use of the different comparative advantages of the region’s countries and reinforcing the economies’ complementariness to create added-value for production which will translate into wide benefits for all.

The intensive use of the most modern IT and communication technologies allows the promotion of a full transformation in the notions of distance and space, to overcome the region’s geographical and operational barriers and bring the South American economy closer to the big drivers of world economy. The dissemination and intensive use of these technologies not only supports the transformation of the region’s productive systems but also the general operation of society, including educational systems, the provision of utility and government services, and the organization of civil society.

As part of the requirements to make investments in regional infrastructure more feasible, it is necessary to have the governments’ political will to promote and facilitate dialogue between the countries’ regulatory and planning authorities, with the purpose of ensuring compatibility between the rules that govern and guide the region’s private initiatives. This dialogue between authorities also contributes to converging views and programs among countries beyond specific infrastructure issues.

The region’s development challenges call for shared leadership and coordination between governments (at their different levels) and the private business sector, including the promotion of strategic public-private partnerships for funding investment projects, and consultations and cooperation for developing an appropriate regulatory environment, to ensure significant participation of the private sector in regional development and integration initiatives. This notion of shared leadership sets the basis for permanent dialogue between governments and businesspersons to support the planning and guiding function of the former, and facilitate project funding, execution and operation responsibilities on behalf of the latter. The idea of development as a shared responsibility of governments and the business sector promotes the design of innovative funding, execution and operation formulae for the so-called “structuring” projects (those that make other projects feasible), sharing risks and benefits and coordinating each party’s actions.